Camping in Sai Kung

This post is long overdue, but the interruption in my blogging from quality time with family was a happy one. I did want to share some photos from our last big excursion in Hong Kong before my departure. To preface, I have wanted to go camping in the Sai Kung region of Hong Kong ever since Sam told me about his adventures there during his time abroad. In my previous visits to Hong Kong, we either didn't have the time or we were too sick to make the journey, so we made a point to check this one off the list over the summer - and I'm so glad we did!

High Island Reservoir, Sai Kung East Country Park. 7 July 2013

Decked out for the rainy trek. 7 July 2013

Sai Kung is a world away from the dense, urban center of Hong Kong Island with feral cattle and lush mountainous landscape covering miles of country park. It certainly seems far away having to take two MTR trains, a minibus and taxi just to arrive at the furthest possible point accessible by vehicle. From there, it was a 2-hour walk in a light drizzle as the sun was setting to arrive at the beach where we were to set up our tent. We went against the crowds of people leaving the country park on that Sunday evening, many of whom gave us looks as if to say, "Why on earth are you going into the park at sunset on a rainy day?" But we were determined to give it a shot, so we just smiled and said, "Hello, lei-ho!" as we dodged the occasional massive spider and its web crossing our path.

Feral cattle, Sai Kung. 7 July 2013

Spider in our path.
Body the size of my thumb.
Yikes.

We made it to the beach just in time to set up our tent before nightfall. We scurried to set up the tent and it dawned on me - there were no other campers on this rainy Sunday evening. Aside from the 2 houses in the village, we were the only people around. We ate dinner outside one of the village houses and tried to make friends with the pack of 6 semi-wild dogs that seemed to call this place home. The cook eventually kicked us out so he could go to sleep, so we meandered across the dodgy bridge back to the beach and our tent, solitary in the rural darkness.

Bridge connecting the beach to the small village. 7 July 2013

We brought some beers back to our tent and "marked our territory" for the dogs. It was exhilarating to be in such an open space - the South China Sea stretching in front of us, the mountains of the country park surrounding all other sides and stars in the sky. Quite the change from our life in the bright and always busy center of Hong Kong. I was completely scared of this unknown, but knew Sam had camped here a few times before and that comforted me. Until he told me that every other time there were other campers. This time we were alone and now I was thinking about all the creatures that were sure to be hunting our scent that very minute. I tried to play it cool and might have succeeded, but any chance of that was ruined when a recently slumbering Sam jolted awake in his sleep, kicking out and yelling, "Gah!" We looked outside the tent and didn't see anything nearby, but in that moment, I realized I was not going to sleep before the sun came back up. So, we played 20 questions, told stories and listened to music as we counted down the hours to sunrise. We heard the occasional dog sniff around, but we made it through the night unscathed and practically exploded out of the tent around 5am at the first sign of daylight.

Sunrise. 8 July 2013

Our lonely tent in the early morning hours. 8 July 2013

After enjoying the sunrise and a long swim, we packed up our tent and started back for home. Unlike our race to arrive before sunset the night before, we leisurely hiked through the country park taking advantage of our early start. We had heard about a waterfall along the way and went on a mission to find it. We were not disappointed by its beauty and relished in the cool, fresh water for a long while to recharge for the more difficult part of the hike.

Waterfall. 8 July 2013

House in Sai Wan Village, Sai Kung. 8 July 2013

When we arrived back at the apartment in the early afternoon, I couldn't believe all that we had accomplished in the day already. It almost made me want to get up early every day. Almost. Every time I tell Sam how much fun I had on this trip and how glad I am that we did it, he reminds me of how terrified I was for about 5.5hours. I remember it. But we lived to tell the tale and I think I'd do it again, but maybe with a larger group to fight off the dogs this time.